The winners of this year's Knight Information Challenge are gearing up to implement their projects. Recently I advised these grantees, and their community foundation partners, on how they might use mobile technology and strategies to help inform and engage their communities. Here are some useful links from that presentation.

Research and statistics:

• Cell Internet Use 2013, Pew Internet, Sept 2013.
• Cell phone activities 2013, Pew Internet, Sept. 2013.
• Tablet and e-reader ownership update, Pew Internet, Sept. 2013.
• Tablets, e-readers grow more popular, KDMC, by Amy Gahran, Oct. 2013.
• Who's online, who isn't and why. KDMC, Oct. 2013. Amy Gahran's synthesis of recent Pew research from a digital divide perspective.
• The Role of News on Facebook, Pew Research Center, Oct. 2013.
• Why it helps to tell people to share your local news on Facebook, KDMC, Oct. 2013, by Amy Gahran -- analysis of Pew research.
• Mobile Future in Focus 2013, comScore, March 2013.
• The New Multi-Screen World Study, Google Think Insights, Aug. 2012. What the heck is responsive web design? Presentation by John Polacek.
• Funding mobile strategies for social impact. White paper co-authored by Amy Gahran for the ZeroDivide Foundation, April 2012. Some of the data is outdated, but the main points are still relevant. Intended audience is foundations, but applies more broadly.

Tools and resources:

• Short community mobile market research survey: PDF, MS Word. Instructions.
• Mailchimp: E-mail on mobile devices report, includes mobile-friendly e-mail templates.
• Twilio, popular platform for building interactive SMS and audio-based services (including 311-style info lines).
• Mobile Commons. Comprehensive but pricey suite of mobile tools. Used by NPR, etc. Maybe partner with an organization that uses it?
• SeeClickFix, free app for crowdsourced reporting of community issues. Integrates well with websites.
• MePorter. Free app for creating simple stories.
• Bootstrap, free open-source front end development framework for responsive websites. Built at Twitter.
• Wordpress: mobile plugins, responsive themes for news sites
• RedOxygen: text messaging vendor, very reputable. Will keep you on the right side of the law.